Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

Retaliation! Germany scores first: Ends Verizon contract over NSA concerns

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge.com
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 10:22 UTC
nsa spying on Germany
It appears Germany has come out swinging ahead of today's FIFA World Cup match:
  • *GERMANY ENDING VERIZON CONTRACT, CITING NSA: AP
Is this the "boomerang" that Putin warned Obama about?

As AP reports,
The German government is canceling a contract with Verizon over fears the company could be letting U.S. intelligence agencies eavesdrop on official communications.

The Interior Ministry says it will let its current contract for Internet services with the New York-based company expire in 2015.

The announcement comes after reports this week that Verizon and British company Colt provide Internet services to the German parliament and other official entities.

Germany has been at the forefront of international outrage over alleged electronic eavesdropping by the U.S. National Security Agency and Britain's GCHQ, revealed last year by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said Thursday that Germany wants to ensure it has full control over highly sensitive government communications networks. Verizon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Bad Guys

Coming clean: Turchynov admits Ukraine's intelligence constantly lied about Russian plans


Voice of Russia
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 09:51 UTC
Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Alexander Turchynov
© RIA Novosti/Mikhail MarkivSpeaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Alexander Turchynov, who was the interim president after the coup, now admits that Russia was never a threat. It was just false alarming intelligence.

According to speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Alexander Turchynov, representatives of security agencies deliberately whipped up the situation systematically misinforming the country's leadership about Russia's possible military intervention, which had never happened.

"Our intelligence agencies have about ten times a month reported that the time of a military attack on the part of the Russian Federation was defined - usually it was at three or four in the morning. And we sat in combat readiness at the command post... and the rest of the army was preparing for an open war with the Eastern neighbor. But it did not happen," Alexander Turchinov said in an interview with Novoye Vremya, which is to be released tomorrow.

However, according to him, in March, the Ukrainian army was not ready for possible military actions. "The Minister of Defense reported to me that our army numbered ... as many as 5 thousand people. Throughout Ukraine," said Turchinov.

Comment: So we are meant to believe that the acting president after the coup was simply misinformed. The US has a way of blaming the intelligence agencies when the blowback from the lies hits them. It is worth noting that the same false intelligence that Turchynov allegedly received was the same intelligence that was passed on to the US, EU and NATO, who all repeated ad nausea: "The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming."

Will NATO's clown-in-chief, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, or Obama come out and admit that they too were wrong all along? Hardly! That intelligence served the purpose wonderfully, gave NATO reason for existing and advanced the prospect of a new cold war.

Oleksander Turchynov, by the way, used to head the Ukraine's intelligence agency, so the idea that he was 'last to know about it' is utter BS...

Mafia State: Interim Ukrainian president Turchynov destroyed SBU files implicating Yulia Tymoschenko in dirty gas deals with Jewish mob 'boss of bosses' Semion Mogilevich

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Candle

Bulgaria confronts EU technocrats: South Stream doesn't breach EU laws


RT
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 09:44 UTC
South Stream pipeline
© RIA Novosti / Sergey GuneevSouth Stream pipeline
Bulgarian officials say the construction of the Russian-led South Stream gas pipeline does not breach EU legislation. The European Commission is concerned the agreement between Russia and Bulgaria violates EU competition law.

The Bulgarian government stood by its position on the legality of the pipeline in a Wednesday statement, ITAR-TASS reports. The agreement on South Stream construction signed in 2008 did not provide any exclusive rights, concessions, or tendering for the South Stream Bulgaria Company which is the owner of the pipeline, and therefore it does not violate EU law, it said.

"With its position the government presents arguments and motives in support of the decisions the Bulgarian nation has taken and which were the subject of concern at the EU Commission," Reuters quotes the official statement.

Bulgaria will put these arguments at the Brussels summit on Friday, but the decision of the commission whether to accept or reject them may end up in full infringement proceedings and possible fines against Sofia, Reuters says.
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Megaphone

China wants a say and plans investment bank to break World Bank dominance


RT
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 09:34 UTC
Chinese money
© Reuters/Stringer
China is moving forward with a plan to create its own version of the World Bank, which will rival institutions that are under the sway of the US and the West. The bank will start with $100 billion in capital.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will extend China's financial reach and compete not only with the World Bank, but also with the Asian Development Bank, which is heavily dominated by Japan. The $100 billion in capital is double that originally proposed, the Financial Times (FT) reported.

A member of the World Bank, China has less voting power than countries like the US, Japan, and the UK. It is in the 'Category II' voting bloc, giving it less of a voice. In the Asian Development Bank, China only holds a 5.5 percent share, compared to America's 15.7 percent share and Japan's 15.6 share.

At the International Monetary Fund, China pays a 4 percent quota, whereas the US pays nearly 18 percent, and therefore has more influence within the organization and where loans go.

"China feels it can't get anything done in the World Bank or the IMF so it wants to set up its own World Bank that it can control itself," the FT quoted a source close to discussions as saying.

Comment: Another move that will put pressure on the petrodollar.

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Stock Down

75% of Americans say Iraq War was not worth the cost


RT
Tue, 24 Jun 2014 03:25 UTC
Marines in front of Hussein's palace, Iraq
© rt.comU.S. Marines of the 1st LAR based in Camp Pendleton, CA, occupy Saddam Hussein's presidential palace in northern Iraq, Tekrit 2003.
As the insurgency in Iraq threatens the stability of the Shiite-led government there, only 18 percent of Americans think the Iraq War was worth the costs, according to a new poll.

The CBS/New York Times poll asked if the costs of the Iraq invasion, including monetary and loss of American lives, were worth it. A record 75 percent of those surveyed said that it wasn't worth the costs, up from 67 percent in November 2011 (just before the final withdrawal of US troops) and 45 percent in August 2003, five months after the invasion began.

"Our 2003 invasion of Iraq should be a warning that military force sometimes transforms a genuine problem into something worse. The war claimed 4,500 American lives and, according to a mortality study published in a peer-reviewed American journal, 500,000 Iraqi lives," Nicholas Kristoff wrote in a New York Times op-ed. "Linda Bilmes, a Harvard expert in public finance, tells me that her latest estimate is that the total cost to the United States of the Iraq war will be $4 trillion."

The survey released Monday found that 63 percent of Republicans and 79 percent each of independents and Democrats didn't think the war was worth the cost.

Comment: What was that definition of insanity...doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Ya know, once you put your combat boot in the door...it's like being just a little bit pregnant.

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Hardhat

Cracks in the alliance? Austria weighs EU exceptions to speed up South Stream gas flow from Russia


RT
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 20:19 UTC
South Stream pipeline
© Agence France-PresseGerhard Roiss, CEO of energy group OMV AG
The South Stream gas pipeline project is too important for the EU to be "put on ice", the head of Austrian energy group OMV, Gerhard Roiss, stressed, even speaking of possible European law exceptions for Gazprom in order to speed up negotiations.

In an interview with the WirtschaftsBlatt newspaper, Roiss said that it's unrealistic to suggest that Austria, which receives a third of its gas from Gazprom, and Europe as a whole, would be able to cope without Russian supplies.

"If we can obtain large amounts of gas from a particular region, then we need to give investors the chance to build gas highways," he explained. "Negotiations for South Stream should therefore be accelerated, but not put on ice."

The South Stream project must "undoubtedly" comply with European Law, but "there can be exceptions in some areas," Roiss added.

According to the OMV chief, it's up to Gazprom to negotiate those "exceptions" with the European Union authorities.

Roiss was speaking ahead of Vladimir Putin's visit to Vienna on Tuesday, which would see OMV and Gazprom signing a deal on bringing the South Stream gas pipeline to Austria as was agreed in April.

Comment: Austria seems to be taking a realistic view of its needs as a country, and appears to be positioning itself to make a deal with Russia's Gazprom, regardless of what the EU thinks.

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Stormtrooper

Massachusetts SWAT sued for refusing to release records, claiming they are a private entity despite public funding


RT
Wed, 25 Jun 2014 19:30 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Jessica RinaldiSWAT teams enter a suburban neighborhood to search an apartment for the remaining suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings in Watertown, Massachusetts April 19, 2013.
The American Civil Liberties Union released a report on Tuesday about the increasing militarization of the country's police departments. The Massachusetts chapter has sued a Baystate SWAT team agency for refusing to release records for the report.

The national ACLU report, called 'War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing', looked at the use of SWAT teams in law enforcement, especially when it comes to drug raids. Created in the late 1960s as "quasi-militaristic" units designed to handle emergency situations such as riots, hostage scenarios and active shooter situations, the number of SWAT squads have since surged, and are "used with greater frequency and, increasingly, for purposes for which they were not originally intended - overwhelmingly to serve search warrants in drug investigations," according to the report.

The report examined 818 SWAT operations from July 2010 to last October, which were conducted by more than 20 law enforcement agencies in 11 states.

The ACLU of Massachusetts (ACLUM) also released a report on the agencies in the commonwealth.
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Brick Wall

Convicted of nothing: Canadian police records ruin innocent lives

Robert Cribb
The Toronto Star
Sun, 22 Jun 2014 18:39 UTC
Image
© Bernard Weil/Toronto Star Ellen Richardson was prevented from going on a March of Dimes organized cruise because a U.S. border agent said she was hospitalized for mental health issues in 2012.
Routine release of police data on people convicted of nothing is undermining careers, volunteer work and travel to the U.S. for hundreds of thousands of innocent Canadians

Andrew's career-limiting moment of humiliation unfolded in front of a distinguished colleague in the security line at Pearson International Airport. The 42-year-old Toronto area businessman was on his way to a prestigious trade conference in the United States last year that promised valuable networking opportunities for his construction firm. He'd prepared for months.

But it was all about to be undermined thanks to a minor contact with a police officer 24 years earlier that torpedoed the biggest business trip of his career and continues to compromise his professional credibility and prospects. Together with a senior industry executive who invited Andrew to attend the conference, the two men entered the U.S. customs area together for the flight to Las Vegas. Andrew, whose name is being withheld to protect from further repercussions, would never pass through.

He is among thousands of Canadians whose names are captured in massive police databases - accessible to U.S. border authorities - despite having never been convicted of a crime, an ongoing Star investigation has found. The specific reason behind his detainment left him stunned.

Comment: "Power is not a means; it is an end." George Orwell

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Sheeple

How the Iraq War launched the modern era of political BS

Chris Mooney
Mother Jones
Wed, 25 Jun 2014 06:00 UTC
Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney
© Cherie A. Thurlby/Wikimedia CommonsWar criminals Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney
Factual divides over whether Iraq had WMD, and whether Saddam was working with Osama, set the stage for today's battles over reality.

That queasy sensation of déjà vu you're experiencing is understandable. With Iraq back in the news, and Paul Wolfowitz and Bill Kristol on TV sounding off about the situation, there's every reason to worry that a new wave of misinformation is on the way.

There is no debate that the Iraq War was sold to the American public with a collection of claims that ended up being proved false. Iraq was said to have weapons of mass destruction, but this wasn't the case. Advocates for the war insinuated that Saddam Hussein was colluding with Al Qaeda and was somehow involved in the 9/11 attacks. That, too, was false.

Yet many Americans (and some of their leaders) still believe this stuff. It's a tragedy, but it's also a kind of natural experiment in misinformation, its origins, and its consequences. And since 2003 social scientists, psychologists, and pollsters have been busy examining why false beliefs like these are embraced even in the face of irrefutable evidence - and what impact this sort of disinformation has on American political discourse.

The resulting research shows that the Iraq War looks like an early version of a current phenomenon: the right wing rooting its stances in simple untruths about the world (see climate change). So here's a quick trip through some of the ground-breaking scholarship on how the Iraq war polarized the US public over the acceptance of basic facts:

Comment: The false beliefs don't stop with the Republicans. How many Democrats still believe Obama is "Change We Can Believe In"?

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Binoculars

No justice: Microsoft lawyer says future is 'bleak' because of NSA surveillance


RT
Wed, 25 Jun 2014 00:00 UTC
Stop_spying
© Reuters/Larry Downing
Microsoft's top lawyer doesn't see much reason to be optimistic going forward if the National Security Agency doesn't stop its bulk collection of private data, pointing to a "bleak future" and a lack of justice and accountability.

Speaking at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC on Tuesday, Microsoft's executive vice president and general counsel Brad Smith urged Congress and the White House to end "the unfettered collection of bulk data," criticizing the NSA and the whole surveillance court system as secretive, uninterested in a duty to "promote justice" and painting a pessimistic view of the coming decades.

"I want law enforcement to do its job in an effective way pursuant to the rule of law," he said, according to the CNET. "If we can't get to that world, then law enforcement is going to have a bleak future anyway."

Although the debate around individual privacy has been a conversation that reaches far back into the United States' past, Smith said the rapidly advancing nature of technology means it's imperative to set surveillance boundaries as soon as possible, especially as the world becomes increasingly interconnected.

"By the end of this decade there will be 50 billion devices connected to the Internet of Things around the world," he added. "This issue is going to become more important, not less."

Comment: There are reports that major corporations are in bed with spying agencies despite the occasional cry for Justice. Is it for Justice or simple damage control?.

Damage Control? Microsoft Inc, whose collaboration with the NSA was exposed earlier this year, to 'encrypt its Internet traffic' because it 'suspects' NSA is spying on it

Hypocrisy much? Government snitches Google and Microsoft call for government to be more transparent

Microsoft caught up in fresh privacy storm

UK gov. plans switch from Microsoft to open source

Microsoft Intercepting and Censoring Chats in Windows Live Messenger

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